Chapter 180
Chapter 180
Chapter 180
Twenty years ago.
The Hanseong family estate.
Despite the late hour, the light in one study remained on.
Kwon Seong-hyeon, Ha-yeon's older brother and eldest son of Vice Chairman Kwon Do-il.
As always, he was absorbed in work late into the night.
Just then.
Kki-eek—.
The closed study door opened a crack and a cute girl peeked her face inside.
The cute girl holding a rabbit doll in her arms was none other than Ha-yeon.
Seong-hyeon briefly paused his work, stood up from his seat, and welcomed his young sister.
"Ha-yeon came?"
"Hehe, Oppa."
Seong-hyeon caught Ha-yeon as she ran to him in one stride, lifted her high, then sat her on the bed.
Then he sat next to her and asked in a gentle voice.
"Can't sleep again?"
"Yeah, I slept during the day."
Having just returned to Korea for vacation after staying at a prestigious private overseas kindergarten, she apparently hadn't adjusted to the time difference yet.
Seong-hyeon stroked Ha-yeon's hair and said.
"You need to sleep early and wake up early to grow tall. And become prettier."
Ha-yeon hugged her rabbit doll tightly and declared confidently.
"I'm already pretty. And I'm going to marry Oppa later anyway, so it doesn't matter if I don't get prettier."
"You'll regret saying that in just five years, you know?"
"No, I won't."
The age gap between eldest Seong-hyeon and youngest Ha-yeon was more than a full zodiac cycle.
Because of that, they had none of the sibling conflicts commonly experienced, and the two got along very well.
Seong-hyeon cherished his sister greatly, and Ha-yeon liked such an older brother.
"What are you doing so late, Oppa?"
Ha-yeon stuck her head out to look at Seong-hyeon's monitor.
The monitor showed complex numbers and graphs.
Seong-hyeon sat Ha-yeon on his lap as if it was nothing and turned the monitor for easier viewing while explaining.
"This is Hanseong's financial statement. To put it simply, you can think of it as the company's report card."
"Report card? Companies take tests too?"
"Mm, something like that."
Because running a company meant always being evaluated by investors and shareholders.
Companies must continuously produce results and prove outcomes for shareholder profits and sustainable development.
Those results attract more investors and shareholders, and their capital becomes invaluable fertilizer for the company to expand its business.
This circulation was the most ideal and proper method for a company to grow.
At least in theory.
Seong-hyeon removed his glasses and looked at the name Hanseong written at the top of the financial statement.
In truth, he had no interest in becoming the group's heir.
His grandfather was in good health, and after him would come his father, Vice Chairman Kwon Do-il.
Even if he didn't follow after that, there were his second and third brothers studying abroad.
Going further, there was also Uncle Seok-woo, his father's half-brother.
Therefore, Seong-hyeon was thinking of becoming an accountant instead of taking on the heavy position of group chairman.
If he became an accountant, he could assist his family from the side without directly shouldering that heavy burden.
Then he'd have much more freedom to do what he wanted, and could spend more time with his cute little sister.
"Now then, let's go to your room and sleep. Oppa will put you to bed."
"Okay!"
Seong-hyeon carried Ha-yeon out of the study.
It was Seong-hyeon's small wish that such peaceful days would continue for a long time.
However, Seong-hyeon's wish was too soft and naive.
***
Seven years later.
Seong-hyeon graduated from an Ivy League economics program and obtained accountant certifications from both America and Korea.
He then completed his military service as KATUSA and returned to Hanseong.
Wal-wal—!
The moment he opened the front gate, a golden retriever named Nureong-i rushed at Seong-hyeon.
"Hey, man! Stop, stop!"
Seong-hyeon grimaced at Nureong-i clinging and licking him but didn't bother trying to push him away.
While he rolled on the ground with Nureong-i, a girl quietly approached.
"Oppa, you're here?"
Ha-yeon had grown up so quickly.
He was glad she'd grown up pretty, but he felt a bit regretful that the cute appearance of her visiting him because she couldn't sleep had disappeared.
It's puberty, so it can't be helped.
Seong-hyeon pushed Nureong-i away and patted Ha-yeon's head.
"Ha-yeon grew a lot, huh? Still want to marry Oppa?"
"Wh-when did I ever say that!"
Ha-yeon shouted sharply and ran away.
"I told you you'd regret it, didn't I?"
As he smiled watching his sister, a heavy, deep voice was heard.
"Seong-hyeon."
It was his father, Vice Chairman Kwon Do-il.
"Yes, Father."
"You've worked hard in many ways."
His father embraced Seong-hyeon and patted his back. He was taciturn but always a reliable father.
Chairman Kwon Do-il hardened his face as if nothing had happened and pointed to the annex.
"Grandfather is calling for you. Go quickly."
"Yes."
"And don't say anything useless in front of Grandfather. That's advice for your sake."
His father warned in a cold voice. Seong-hyeon read the concern and worry contained within but couldn't follow that instruction.
"......"
Seong-hyeon swallowed and headed to Chairman Kwon Seong-cheol's study.
***
Kwon Seong-cheol's study.
"......"
Chairman Kwon looked his grandson up and down in his military uniform and asked in a disapproving voice.
"How old are you this year?"
"Twenty-seven."
"You've wasted a full seven years on nonsense. I won't tolerate any more indulgence. Report to my office starting tomorrow."
Kwon Seong-cheol, having unilaterally notified his grandson of his will, swallowed his anger internally.
'Precious time like blood.'
When he should be exchanging with political and business figures, building connections and learning management practices, he wasted a full five years studying those trivial number games.
Moreover, wasting time fulfilling military service that he could have easily avoided with the family's military connections.
He couldn't let him play around any longer.
Just then.
"G-Grandfather, please look at this once."
Seong-hyeon took out an external hard drive from his pocket and handed it to Chairman Kwon Seong-cheol.
Seong-hyeon hadn't simply been studying accounting.
The more he studied, the more strange aspects of Hanseong began to show. And the deeper he dug into Hanseong's information, the greater his doubts grew.
What those doubts pointed to was clear.
They were traces of vice that Hanseong had hidden while growing into a massive conglomerate.
Moreover, this wasn't just data—it matched what Seong-hyeon had witnessed from the side all along.
How many had disappeared at the hands of that person called 'Director' who attended to his grandfather?
All of Hanseong's glory was the result built upon dirty money and the blood of countless people.
Without resolving this, there would be no future.
Seong-hyeon continued.
"I don't want to inherit the family business. Especially not Hanseong as it is now."
Chairman Kwon Seong-cheol looked at the materials appearing on the monitor and asked as if dumbfounded.
"......Do you even understand what you're saying right now?"
"Of course. I believe breaking free from this yoke is the right direction and, furthermore, a more efficient management method."
As long as the chain of corruption and vice continued, the Republic of Korea would remain a financially backward country forever.
Companies that sucked the lifeblood of investors and shareholders while pouring all their efforts into defending management rights. And the government and bureaucrats who responded to them.
Only by breaking that yoke could Korean companies leap to the next stage.
And the true growth of companies was the path to saving the nation.
Seong-hyeon analyzed his homeland's difficulties with his limited knowledge.
'If speculative funds flowing into real estate could be redirected toward promising companies......'
They would gain certain competitiveness in the technological hegemony war to come, and could be liberated from the yoke of unaffordable housing prices and concentration in the capital region.
This was by no means a thought born from petty righteousness.
It was the minimum atonement and duty for being born with a silver spoon in a good family and enjoying countless benefits until now.
However,
"I'll pretend I didn't see what just happened. Don't mention it again in the future."
Chairman Kwon had no interest in such intentions from Seong-hyeon.
This was just youthful impetuosity and shallow thinking.
"But......"
"Silence. However, if you insist on your intentions, I won't stop you."
"......!"
"Instead, repay everything you've enjoyed under Hanseong's name until now and leave. Then I'll send you off. But after that, you're neither Kwon family blood nor my grandson."
His grandfather's cold gaze glaring at him from the darkness.
The words to repay all costs spent raising him and leave.
In truth, repaying those costs wasn't particularly difficult. Seong-hyeon wasn't the extravagant type, and he could earn plenty of money as an accountant.
For such a Seong-hyeon, his grandfather's declaration of disownment was an even greater shock.
"I under......stand."
Seong-hyeon clenched his fists and withdrew.
***
Three years later, having repaid all debts, Seong-hyeon left the family and held a wedding with his girlfriend.
The woman he met at university not only waited for him to finish military service but even supported Seong-hyeon's intention to shed Hanseong's background.
Moreover, as an editor-in-chief of a media company, she was in a position to widely spread Hanseong's corruption that Seong-hyeon wanted to expose.
Chairman Kwon Seong-cheol and the Hanseong family members did not attend that wedding.
They must have feared falling out of the chairman's favor.
Only his sister Ha-yeon, with whom he'd always been close, attended in her personal capacity.
Korean Hospital.
"Ha-yeon attended......"
Chairman Kwon Seong-cheol, receiving that report from his hospital bed, muttered while staring blankly at the ceiling.
Kwon Do-il spoke as if defending Ha-yeon.
"Please don't be too angry, Father. She's still just a child."
"If she's a high school student, she's old enough to make her own judgments. I built up Hanseong from a much younger age while delivering newspapers and milk."
"Father, the world has changed a lot since then."
"Yes, it's changed indeed. Truly a strange world."
Chairman Kwon Seong-cheol muttered while looking at the massive tower visible outside the window.
"A huge tower appears in the middle of Seoul, people with strange superpowers emerge. Even so."
Even in his illness, Chairman Kwon didn't miss business opportunities that could make money.
"Now is the time for our Hanseong to leap forward as the world's greatest company."
Because upheavals that shake the world are simultaneously the greatest opportunities to rise above the world.
The appearance of a new world called the tower.
The greatest opportunity throughout all of humanity's civilization had come to this land.
However, there was one person trying to throw ashes on this golden opportunity.
'Kwon Seong-hyeon.'
He couldn't let his disowned grandson spread Hanseong's fatal weaknesses to the world.
Even after disownment, he'd given him many opportunities, but the boy rejected all proposals and chances and dug even deeper into Hanseong's darkness.
To stop this...... he had no choice but to eliminate him.
Chairman Kwon hardened his gaze.
"Do-il, Hanseong is our Kwon family's legacy."
"......"
"I will die soon, and you will die someday too. Your sons and daughters will also die and disappear someday. Humans cannot go against heaven's decree. But."
Teok—.
Chairman Kwon placed his hand on his son's shoulder.
"Only the family remains forever. Along with Hanseong's name. You, me, your sons. In the end, we're all just chess pieces to continue this."
Kkwu-yuk—.
Chairman Kwon Seong-cheol gripped Vice Chairman Kwon Do-il's shoulder.
"Choose well, Do-il. Who will get the next chairman position depends on your choice."
His words contained a threat that he could seat his half-brother Kwon Seok-woo in the chairman's position.
Kwon Do-il silently nodded amidst deep conflict.
"......Yes, Father."
However, making Chairman Kwon Seong-cheol's threat meaningless, the incident occurred without warning.
***
Korean Hospital funeral hall.
"......"
Kwon Do-il, who became chairman of Hanseong Group after Kwon Seong-cheol's passing.
He stared blankly into space wearing funeral clothes.
Barely a few weeks after his father Chairman Kwon Seong-cheol passed away from illness, Seong-hyeon also left the world in a traffic accident.
This was not the result of the secret conversation he'd had with his father previously.
Because Kwon Do-il hadn't made any choice.
He hadn't used the ugly tactic of eliminating his son to maintain Hanseong's image and secure the chairman position, nor had he rebelled against his father to protect his beloved son.
While he wavered, this situation had suddenly unfolded.
Kwon Do-il was equally confused by the current situation.
The truck driver who hit Seong-hyeon and his wife coincidentally died on the spot.
He investigated the aftermath but couldn't find any connection whatsoever to Hanseong.
So there was no way to know whether this was a coincidence or hidden instructions left by his deceased father.
And.
"What, what did you do!"
Ha-yeon screaming whether he wanted the chairman position so badly, to bring Oppa back to life.
He had neither the presence of mind to explain the situation to his daughter grabbing his collar and wailing, nor the desire to make excuses.
He too felt like sitting down and crying with his daughter.
But he couldn't bring himself to do so.
If he collapsed too, countless hyenas would approach and tear Hanseong Group to shreds.
Both the family legacy his father left him to protect, and the chairman position obtained through Seong-hyeon's accidental death, would all vanish helplessly.
Kwa-aak—.
'I can't, I can't let that happen.'
Kwon Do-il looked down at Ha-yeon crying at his feet and clenched his fist.
He'd failed both in his duty as a son and his duty as a father.
It might already be too late, but he must protect what remains now. This family, and this company.
Therefore, he decided to become ruthless.
So that this terrible result brought by his indecisiveness, unable to choose anything, would never repeat itself.